The Office of Public Affairs for the Seattle Public School District sent out the following email Tuesday night warning its families of the “Scary Clowns.”

The Seattle School District has been contacted by a number of individuals concerned about an ongoing national social media trend related to Scary Clowns. There have been a few local news stories related to this and some of our students have received pictures of clowns. We are communicating to families to remind you and your student that if they see suspicious individuals while at school, please have them inform their teacher or principal immediately. We also ask you to report any threatening social media activity that involves Seattle Public Schools or our students to your school or the districts Safety and Security Office at (206) 252-0707. This office is open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.We take safety seriously, and the security of our students is a top priority. We are working closely with Seattle Police Department to investigate all concerns related to this social media trend.

The District advised people to report anything suspicious, whether that’s an actual sighting or activity on social media. As Mashable reported, some people who have begun presenting themselves as clowns online have been making terroristic threats.

Even Steven King, author of It, the most famous fictional example of a horrifying clown, tweeted to try to end the fear-mongering about the clowns.

Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteriamost of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh.